You are here

Steve Hutchison reviews 100 amazing psychological horror films from the 1980’s. Each film is analyzed and discussed with a synopsis and a rating. The movies are ranked from best to worst. How many have you seen?

My Little Eye

Five people are offered one million dollars to spend six months together in an isolated mansion for an internet broadcast.

This is a post-Scream/post-Blair Witch claustrocore horror thriller about three guys and two gals stuck in a mansion, whose every move are being filmed for a webcast. It doesn’t get more modern than My Little Eye, but modernity, today, doesn’t lead to timelessness. This isn’t the type of movie that ages well. Additionally, the script is rather juvenile. The dialogue is just uncomfortable.

The use of hidden cameras is fascinating, until you realize that cameras are also mounted on pens and installed in the weirdest places. Found footage films had an obvious influence on My Little Eye, for all the bad reasons. It is still worth your attention, though, if only for the ambiance. Some characters are bland, some sympathetic. Lose some, win some.

Things gets convoluted passed the halfway mark. The plot stretches to unreasonable lengths. We’re never certain what is a prank and what is a menace. We don’t know who the antagonists are. There are several red herrings and whodunit vibes, but no way to predict how it’ll all end. This is a well-made production with good pacing and photography, but a retarded third act.

The following recommendation lists are based on 2000 horror movie reviews. They were extracted from a database and formatted for this book. Tales of Terror (www.terror.ca) is an online “gamified” tool designed for horror fans, students, authors and filmmakers. “Gamification” is the adaptation and transformation of tangible concepts into empirical games. Not unlike sport publications, fantasy leagues and role-playing games, the Almanac of Terror mixes and aggregates different statistics, facts, ratings and opinions. Most of the lists included in this book are sorted from best to worst according to their overall score. Some lists are sorted by pertinence. Our classification method uses genres, subgenres, ambiances and antagonists. Our different ratings are as follows: stars, story, creativity, action, quality, gimmick, and rewatchability. We sometimes use the “creepiness” factor when populating certain lists.

This book contains 66 reviews of horror films written and ranked by critic and blogger Steve Hutchison. Each description includes five ratings (stars, story, creativity, acting, quality), a synopsis and a review. All 66 movies were produced exclusively by Japan. How many have you seen?

Have you been recently introduced to horror movies? You want to explore the genre and don’t know where to start? Here are 101 simple and accessible ranked horror movies you should definitely check out. How many have you seen?

This book contains 66 reviews of horror films written and ranked by critic and blogger Steve Hutchison. Each description includes five ratings (stars, story, creativity, acting, quality), a synopsis and a review. All 66 movies were produced exclusively by the United Kingdom. How many have you seen?

This book contains 66 reviews of horror films written and ranked by critic and blogger Steve Hutchison. Each description includes five ratings (stars, story, creativity, acting, quality), a synopsis and a review. All 66 movies were produced exclusively by the United States. How many have you seen?